Cast:
- Eric Johnson ... Steven 'Flash' Gordon
- Gina Holden ... Dale Arden
- Karen Cliche ... Baylin
- Jody Racicot ... Dr. Hans Zarkov
- John Ralston ... Ming
- Jonathan Walker ... Rankol
- Anna Van Hooft ... Aura
- Panou ... Nick
- Giles Panton ... Joe Wylee
Official Summary:
Mongo Bounty hunter Baylin, trapped on Earth at the end of the pilot and tired of hiding in the park, moves in with Flash. Zarkov locates a newly opened portal, which turns out to have been created so that Tyrus, a huge, laser-whip wielding tracker, could come to Earth and return Baylin to Ming. Tyrus once purchased Baylin and considers her his property. Meanwhile Aura tried to stop her father, who controls all of Mongo's safe water, from executing a Verdan leader for smuggling ice for his sick daughter.
Key Moments:
Zarkov supplies some much-needed explanation of the hand-held portal-opening device: it does not
create the rift that links Mongo and Earth (only Ming can do that); it only creates a portal into one that already exists. Because the portals seal themselves, the device (which Zarkov calls a "rift-blaster") is needed to reopen the portal into the rift. Dale's agreement to keep quiet about the rifts (lest, as Zarkov again reminds us, we learn to build our own and so inevitably destroy space and time) means that she has to quash stories
and try to steer her detective boyfriend away from the truth, which must be a drag.
Power Politics, Mongo-Style:
Ming very blandly reaffirms that everyone smuggling water must be executed for treason, despite the protestations not only of Aura (who apparently was literally sent to her room as punishment for losing the Imex), but even of Rankol (who fears the accumulation of martyrs). He pulls the classic tyrant switcheroo, sounding like he's going to be ruthless, then like he's going to be merciful, then switching back to ruthless again -- all without the slightest hint of the glee a true tyrant would get from yanking people around. (Ralston is still playing Ming way too straight.)
Cheesiest Will They/Won't They Moment:
Baylin, a graduate of the Snidely Whiplash School of Villainy, ties Flash and Dale together facing each other with big loops of rope. As they try to find a knife to cut the bonds, Flash's cellphone starts vibrating (somewhere, Beavis is saying, "huh huh, you said 'vibrate'"). Afterwards, Dale says, "Alien bondage turns me off," to which Flash dryly responds, "Duly noted."
Bottom Line: Worth Watching?:
The Verdans are being set up as the source of grass-roots rebellion against Ming (as they were in earlier incarnations), but this is not being done clearly enough, nor are the Verdans emerging as a people. There seem to be several races on Mongo but it's not apparent who they are, whether they're all from Mongo, or who belongs to which group. Maybe some of this will become clear later, but series episodes, especially this early on, should not be understandable only in retrospect.
